For a long while, I thought the first white artist to record for Okeh (which, ostensibly, was a label for black artists) was Johnnie Ray - "Cry / The Little White Cloud That Cried" was released on Okeh's "Rhythm & Blues Series" in 1951.

I now find out that jazz artist Bix Beiderbecke may have been the first white artist on Okeh - his career on the label dates back as far as 1924. Can anyone pre-date this?

Couldn't attach labels in first post, so here they are (taken from Popsike).

Dont know whether or not there is anything earlier than this but Harry McClaskey ( a white tenor) had a 1918 recording on Okeh - "Good night little girl, good night"

I would say this one on this link,the worlds rarest record and white.

https://www.megocollector.com/vinyl-records/okeh-1007-the-worlds-rarest-record-discovered/

Dont know whether or not there is anything earlier than this but Harry McClaskey ( a white tenor) had a 1918 recording on Okeh - "Good night little girl, good night"

Nice one Jaco! Would be interesting to see if there's anything earlier.

A further delve reveals the Sterling Trio (all white) also recorded on Okeh in 1918.

Beiderbeck and people like Eddie Lang were part of their Jazz series which fell nicely in step with the company's Race series of the 20s. I suppose Johnny Ray was your first 'pop artist' to record for the label. 'Cry' is a tremendous recording. Remember that 70s Okeh compilation? I only used to listen to stuff like Williams & Watson back then, skipping all the rest of it, which is a crime when you think about it. Otis Williams & the Charms 'Your Sweet Love Rained All Over me' off the same album is also gob-smacking. We were far too tribal for our own good back then... :-)

Nice one Jaco! Would be interesting to see if there's anything earlier.

if we want to go really back, then there's the yiddish music for the jewish immigrants then flooding into NYC.

Edited October 8, 200915 yr by macca

if we want to go really back, then there's the yiddish music for the jewish immigrants then flooding into NYC.

Funny you should mention that Macca - on a rummage last weekend, I found a batch of about 20 yiddish 78s from around the 20s/30s on UK Columbia. TThey were British pressings, but all title and artist credits were in Hebrew.

Suffice is to say, I didn't have any of them, but it kinda backs up what you said about Jewish immigrants in New York. They were also the key (sole?) immigrant group in East London at the turn of the 1900s. They were mostly responsible for the tailoring industry in that area.